The Ex Games(15)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“Absolutely,” he told me, still not looking or sounding like himself. He made cocky statements all the time, accepting challenges and taking bets. But his voice always held an ironic tone, like he was half-kidding and didn’t believe it himself. This time he sounded like he believed it.

Or maybe the difference was in me, not him. Maybe after four years, I’d finally fallen out of love with him.

“Let’s do it, then.” I reached forward and poked his bare chest with two fingers like we were actors in a gangster movie. “You and me, on the slopes, head-to-head, the slalom and the half-pipe. I will kick.” Poke. “Your.” Poke. “Ass.”

“Oooooh,” the boys said. The moaning was so loud that I could have sworn Chloe and even Liz chimed in.

But all I saw was Nick in front of me, not budging a millimeter as I poked him, eyes frowning and lips curled in a tight smile. Quietly he told me, “Remember, you asked for it.”

I did not ask for this attack. But I didn’t dare defend myself or even hint at what had transpired between us in the sauna. The madder I got, the more he’d know I cared that he’d called me a bitch, and the worse I would hurt.

“Want to make it interesting?” Gavin asked, wading over. “Let’s do this thing on Saturday. After Nick wins, the girls treat the guys to the Poseur concert that night.”

“You mean when Hayden wins, the boys treat the girls,” Chloe corrected him. “That sounds fair.”

“It’s not fair,” Davis protested. “After Nick wins, you’ll just say conditions were different when Hayden came down, and that’s what made her slower. Like, it started snowing.”

“Or it stopped snowing,” Gavin said.

“Or the wind was harder,” Davis said.

“Or the wind was softer,” Gavin said. “Girls will whine about anything.”

“Fine!” Liz broke in, obviously agitated. She never spoke this loudly, much less broke in. “Instead of a slalom where they come down one at a time, they’ll come down together, like in a boardercross.”

“It’s still not fair,” Gavin pointed out. “No matter how high Nick goes in the half-pipe, you’ll say, ‘But Hayden landed a 900!’” He ended in a high-pitched voice that none of us girls had used since the second grade.

“Leave it to me,” Chloe said ominously. “I’ll find three impartial judges. Even you won’t be able to complain.” She used one finger on her right hand to pretend to scribble a note to herself on the palm of her left hand. Then she put her hands down and glared around the pool. “In the meantime, we’ve had just about enough of you guys and your sexist attitudes. Find your own way out. Come on, ladies.” She picked up the cake, and Liz obediently gathered the plates.

I still crouched in the warm pool in front of Nick, stunned. Whether the girls treated the boys to Poseur tickets or the boys treated the girls, we’d be paired off: Liz with Davis, Chloe with Gavin. Did this mean Nick and I had … a date?

That was so not going to happen.

Dazed, I moved past him up the stairs, following Chloe. Nick caught me by the wrist. Our hands were wet and I could have slipped out of his grasp, but I didn’t. I stopped beside him on the stairs, shivering in the cold air, waiting breathlessly for him to break the date Chloe and Gavin had arranged for us, or to make a snide comment about it.

“We need a tiebreaker,” he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear, but looking only at me. “Not that I’m saying I won’t win the boardercross and the half-pipe. But I want to make sure I win fair and square. Just in case, we need to add a third event. Like a big air.”

“Done,” Chloe said quickly. “We’ll bury you. Come on, Hayden.”

Funny, I must have been riding waves of adrenaline the whole afternoon and night. I’d exerted myself on the slopes in the competition, but I hadn’t felt the least bit sore. Now I suddenly felt it. My muscles were sore and tired, my eyes strained, and my brain hurt just thinking about the jump at the slopes, the one stunt I hadn’t tried and didn’t plan to. But Nick was right. This whole argument was about who was the better boarder overall. How could I be better than him if I couldn’t go off a jump, one of the biggest parts of this sport?

“Good idea,” I heard Gavin say as I sloshed out of the pool.

“No problemo,” Davis said knowingly. The smack of their high five echoed against the wall of the hotel.

Before I closed the hotel door behind me, I stole one more glance back at Nick. Maybe he hadn’t meant to set me up to fail. Maybe he’d momentarily forgotten I was afraid of heights. But no, he turned around on the steps and looked straight at me, still wearing that small smile. He flicked his wet hair out of his eyes with his pinkie, as if to show me yet again how little he thought of me. He knew exactly what he’d done.

comp

comp

(kämp) n. 1. an unofficial snowboarding contest 2. Hayden vs. Nick

Heart racing and mind whirling, I walked into the locker room and changed into my clothes, hardly hearing Chloe and Liz’s discussion echoing against the tile walls about what pigs boys could be. I was calculating how to fix this terrible situation. Maybe I could do the jump this time, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about Daisy Delaney challenging me in the back bowls. Maybe all I’d ever needed to get over my fear of heights was the tall, dark, and hunky heir to a meat fortune to insult me and make fun of me. But gosh, it sure would be easier if I could talk my way out of this whole contest. “What?” I said.

Liz was standing in front of me. She looked a bit frazzled with her damp curls in her face. Obviously she’d been trying to get my attention for a while. “I said, have you seen your butt?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?” I craned my neck to take a gander at my backside.

Chloe clarified, “She means you have ‘BOY TOY’ written across the back of your jeans.”

“Oh.” I nodded. “They’re Josh’s.”

“You say that as if it explains everything.” Liz cocked her head to one side and considered me while buttoning her cardigan. “My stepbrothers don’t write ‘BOY TOY’ across the back of their jeans. They only say the entire alphabet while burping.”

“That’s nothing. Josh can recite the Gettysburg Address. Listen, y’all.” I pulled my hair free from the collar of my sweater. The long strands were damp, reminding me I’d just been in the pool with Nick. I could still be in the pool with Nick if he weren’t such an ass. “I want to call off this contest.”